Image I am working on WIP

I am working on the car and the passengers atm. However, I want to add in a few other things in the image. I will be putting smoke on the back tires to make the car look like it's in motion, but any suggestion of extra items would be appreciated. I have a hard time making sure my pieces don't feel empty.

@christinakal thanks for the compliment!!! I only use the basic brushes in photoshop, because I am too stupid to figure out how to do much else lol. I use a watercolor paper texture to start out with, and and drop in a ton of different textures. I reserve textures of objects such as rocks, stucko, wood etc for characters and mostly focal points, and then use water color scans for pushing objects further in the background. I found it is a nice way to create depth and contrast.

So my basic texture theory is:

Textures on objects in the world

Textures that would appear on the canvas.

I have been really interested in texture theory, and there isn’t much out there it seems, however, I know it exists. Certain textures definitely have better relationships, just like color theory.

@eric-castleman I see, I agree with you. It is very interesting for me to combine real nature textures with stylized painting/ characters. It gives a really nice feeling! Again, amazing work! Such an inspiration!

Eric, what a wonderful concept. I like the old school travel poster feel and color pallet. The only thing I see is a funky tangent with the lighting on the drivers face and the back post on the car. Looks to me as if he has his hand under his chin giving it a “oh well another monster” fill. If you fill you need something more above the car maybe a pile of luggage and other “were on an adventure “ stuff tied to the roof.

I'm not sure if it needs any more stuff than what you are already planning to add. I can sympathize with trying to make pieces feel less empty, but I think in this case the image is strong without added stuff.

But to give you some ideas anyway:

a street sign of some sort
some grass growing sparsely around the road railing
birds
car antenna

I love your texture! I think this is a fantastic piece. I don't think that your foreground is empty at all. The thing I notice is the big empty sky. It is a lot of negative space and I feel it competes with the image. Maybe another cloud or a couple of gulls in the distance? Or fade the sky as it approaches the horizon to make it less of one big space? Another thought is to make the cloud behind the car bigger. It will also emphasize the car more.